Checking In

New York Yacht Club American Magic, the U.S. Challenger for the 36th America’s Cup, has announced an initial roster of 17 sailors who will train and compete with the team.

Forty-six sailors from across North America competed in the 16th C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Memorial Clinic & Regatta and the 2018 U.S. Para Sailing Championships, which were hosted by Sail Newport in Newport, RI June 20 – 24, 2018.

Ex Scientia Tridens, “Through Knowledge, Sea Power” is the motto of the United States Naval Academy, and in mid-June 2018, five Navy 44s (44-foot navy blue sloops) took station near the lighthouse just off the Stamford, CT breakwater before dousing sails and entering Stamford Harbor as part of their ten-day sail training exercise “at sea” from Annapolis, MD.

The Salty Dawg Sailing Association (SDSA), a Middletown, RI, based non-profit educational and charitable organization that hosts rallies, rendezvous and blue water sailing seminars, has expanded routes for its Fall Rally to the Caribbean. For the first time, a departure point in Essex, CT offers advantages for those not planning to cruise through the Chesapeake Bay to the primary starting venue in Hampton, VA.

The 19th Annual North American Rally to the Caribbean departs Saturday, October 27, 2018 from Newport, RI (or the best weather window after that date.) Now a free rally, the NARC Rally is offering a new Mid-Atlantic departure point. “Boats are invited to depart from the Chesapeake Bay to join the NARC Rally in Bermuda and sail south to St. Maarten,” said Hank Schmitt, President of Offshore Passage Opportunities (OPO).

Hudson River Community Sailing (HRCS) and the Knickerbocker Sailing Association (KSA) came together on June 23, 2018 to celebrate the 15th Annual Stonewall Sails Regatta.

The Fools’ Rules Regatta, a family-oriented event for fun-loving folks of all ages sponsored by the Jamestown Yacht Club, is celebrating 41 foolish years on Saturday, August 18, 2018 on the Town Beach, East Ferry in Jamestown, RI.

Twenty-eighteen marked the first year multihulls were invited to compete in the Newport Bermuda Race, and we were thrilled to take part with Jason Carroll’s Gunboat 62 Elvis. Elvis has been much modified from original, and now sports a 28-meter rotating mast, external tillers and deep asymmetric daggerboards, all of which puts a bit of spring in her step, especially in lighter air.

The 51st running of the Newport Bermuda Race was a slow but strategically challenging race. Of the 169 boats that started in Newport, RI on Friday, June 15, 166 completed the 635-mile race in two to six days’ time (there were three retirements). After making very slow progress in the middle of the racecourse in light to non-existent winds, most of the fleet finished quickly on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

The 2018 Lightning Youth World Champions are (l – r) Jeff Hayden, Brian Hayes, Jr. and Meredith Ryan.